festival

The Big Stupid Improv Show

This is the traditional FREE opening show to the Winnipeg IF... Improv Festival. We offer you up a sampler of what you can expect at the festival. And we do it as the Fringe hit show "The Big Stupid Improv Show" which is an improv jam show that has been running in Winnipeg since 1999!
Tuesday, Oct 17th 8PM
Wee Johnny's 177 McDermot Ave (basement)Facebook Event LINK

Lost in Translation/Perdu en quoi?

This hugely successful improv show has been at the Improv Festival and the Comedy Festival and is a favourite for multilingual audiences. You don’t have to understand English OR French to understand the hilarious miscommunication that occurs when these two languages collide.

The Sketch Comedy Night

Sketch Comedy in an Improv Festival!? For one night only we let the performers plan the show ahead of time. Sketch comedy has roots in improvisation so we let it slide… but just for this one hilarious show. Local sketch heroes HUNKS and President Bear will perform alongside the DEBUT of the festival’s first all-women sketch ensemble. Hosted by Stephen & Caity. The future is funny.

The festival Sketch Ensemble was created and assembled for the Winnipeg if... Improv Festival by Caity Curtis. The ensemble includes:

Writer's Block (and more)

The Friday shows will include so much. First, we will showcase some improv shows from our international guests. Then we will have a collaboration with the “Winnipeg Writer’s Festival THIN AIR”. Slam poetry is super lame and not funny at all. Not one bit of funny. Slam poetry is angsty and boring and embarrassing. … … … or is it? Spontaneous observations collide with pre written musings on the world we live in. Poetry from improvisers, improv from poets and the wonderful space between profound and profunny.

This is a live collaboration between the Winnipeg if... Improv Festival and Winnipeg's International Writer's Festival THIN AIR.

This show features opening showcase from “We're so Strong” (Dave Morris from Victoria and Meags Fitzgerald from Montreal) and more.

Werewolf

The show is inspired by the game “Werewolf”. The ensemble will be working with a Game Studies expert (Ryan Clement) on different theories about game play and narrative. That all sounds pretty academic… it’s also an improv show where there are werewolves who try and eat villagers.

The game of Werewolf is a wildly popular social game involving psychology and body language. Here is a link to information about the game (it is also known as Mafia)
Friday, Oct 20th 10:30PM
Gas Station Arts Centre 445 River AveTicket LINK

Words To Live By

Guest storyteller Dr Joel Carter is an MD who specializes in palliative care. After his inspiring talk at TEDxWinnipeg the connection was clear… storytelling has healing properties. Don’t just take our word for it, listen to Dr Joel’s compelling tales as he brings the ER to the stage.

This show features opening showcase from Winnipeg’s Bucko and also a set from our Local Ensemble.

Improv Workshop

Can't We All Get Along?

Theatre, Literature, Cinema and Real Life are all filled with people who like each other. People who fall in love, maintain friendships, and struggle not with enemies, but with friends, family, and love. The same can't always be said for improvised scenes, where characters spend a lot of time defined by their disagreements. It can be hard for improvisers to find interesting tension without reaching for external conflict.

This workshop will explore other forms of conflict. We will work with scenes between characters who like each other, who fall in love, and who mean to help, even when they don't. We'll explore characters who are at war with themselves, not with someone else. We'll look at off-stage conflict, and how on-stage characters can embody that conflict in interesting ways. We'll also explore how to play with hot-and-cold relationships: odd couples, relationships of grudging respect, love/hate relationships, and characters who fall in love with the worst possible choice.

These tools are important building blocks for long form and also a great way to vary up short form.

The class is recommended for advanced and intermediate improvisers with at least some performing experience. *to apply to attend this workshop please message simprov(@)hotmail.com